Past Times: Back-to-back crashes make October deadly for Barksdale

1938: Louisiana State Fair sees record Sunday crowd

3:01 AM,
Oct. 24, 2013

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Written by

John Andrew Prime

October was rapidly becoming a deadly month for Barksdale Field, with fatal crashes on the front page this date in both 1943 and 1944.

In 1943, two officers at the field were killed when their liaison airplane crashed shortly after takeoff. The pilot was 2nd Lt. William R. Brown, and his passenger was the medical officer, Capt. Warren N. Steele, new to the post from a practice in Modesto, Calif.

In 1944, six airmen lost their lives when a base bomber crashed in Arkansas while on a training flight. The crash was just north of the state line, near Lewisville. The bomber crashed on the edge of a field, ...